What do you think? Elder's question!

The old ghost was panicking inside; he still had not gathered enough espera to launch a surprise attack and escape. He had to stall for time.

What he had just said meant he was turning traitor to the demon race. But to him, his life mattered the most; he was an intelligent life form.

Only great and powerful demons had the privilege of gaining sentience and intellect. He was not willing to go down like this in such a filthy forest.

So he had to stall for as much time as he possibly could.

He knew that these human exorcists would be willing to pay any price to learn the tactics or attack patterns from the demon territory.

Not only that, they would definitely reward this young kid if he went to them with this information. Not only would this kid receive fame, but also fortune.

Being human, such things were naturally desired by them since they were born. If he could just take even the slightest advantage of this, he would be able to escape from here.

But Oliver's next words made his scalp go numb.

"Information? I don't need it."

"WHAT!? Are you not aware of how much the humans could benefit if you reveal such information to them? They will even reward you handsomely for this! You will receive fame like no one—"

"Quiet."

Oliver bellowed, instantly silencing the ghost.

"Two reasons," he started as he went up to a tree, lightly scratching the flaky bark, feeling the rough texture. He said, "There are two reasons that I don't need it. I will tell you…"

"The first: I don't like fame. I could become famous if I wanted to right now."

"The second: I already know everything you want to tell."

The old ghost could not help but feel a chill when he heard the second reason. For some reason, he felt that Oliver was not joking with him.

No sane human would refuse an offer to obtain secret intel about the demon territory; he had seen many in his lifetime.

But how was that even possible?

He already knows what he was going to tell him? Was this a bluff?

The ghost didn't have the time to think as he felt the corrupted energy rapidly covering him.

The torture resumed as he experienced the worst pain of his life in hundreds of years; his eyes burned in agony.

He was going to die!

"DIE–AAGH!" the ghost cried out as he released a burst of espera intending to harm Oliver. It was the one he had been saving until now.

However, something unexpected happened in front of his eyes. The corrupted energy didn't even let the espera flow out. It consumed everything; even the espera was not spared.

The old ghost had never seen something this bizarre in his lifetime.

In his final moment, all he heard was Oliver's faint voice as he mocked.

"Did you think that I would not know about your little trick? Bold of you to think that you could launch a sneak attack while gathering espera inside my own body without my notice. Hahaha."

The ghost was fully consumed by the Abyss energy, no trace of his existence left behind.

Oliver felt a stir as the Abyss energy seemed more powerful from the currents flowing inside his body.

Observing the body analysis panel, he saw the following changes:

___________

[Name: Oliver Mystic]

[Race: Human]

[Status: Rank-1]

[Strength: Level 5]

[Espera: Level 4]

[Abyss Energy: Level 4]

[Charisma: Level 3]

[Luck: Level 4]

_______________

His Abyss Energy had increased.

He didn't think that there was actually a way to grow the Abyss energy, but it seemed that devouring ghosts had an effect on the increment.

Unexpectedly, that old ghost was indeed quite powerful, or else he would not have seen such an increase.

He wondered if he was lucky that he found the old ghost in such an injured and sorry state that he was able to devour it.

He looked at the storage bracelet in his hand for a while. He could see a dark inscription on its surface.

The storage bracelet was secured by a barrier-category rune.

He would need to find a runesmith or a forger to remove this restriction.

Since this rune was clearly the technique of demons, he would need to be careful. He could not easily reveal that he got this storage bracelet from an old ghost.

If he did that, this thing would be directly confiscated by the authorities.

He would have to be careful in finding a blacksmith who was willing to do that for him or better just learn the ropes himself.

He didn't like to be dependent on others after all.

________________

Oliver shortly returned to the gathering. In the end, he did not get to relax at all.

He cursed that dead ghost in his mind and these useless elders who could not sense a demonic ghost being present and hiding inside this big forest.

He wondered if they had gone senile.

"Hey, Oliver, where did you go?" Bella smiled and asked him politely; she had forgotten the previous incident after gaining his forgiveness.

"Umm…" he looked at her before replying, "Nothing, I was just taking a stroll…"

"Oh! I just asked the elders, and it seems we could begin training soon! We could duel with each other as much as we want during that. I can't wait for it!"

She chirped excitedly as Oliver let out a wry smile.

She was barely 9 years old and was already showing traits of being a battle junkie.

He saw Evelyn was also looking at him with an eager look.

He could guess the reason as well. She had always looked up to Bella, so since her sister was so excited to spar with him—someone of the same age as her, she was naturally curious about his skills too.

Her thinking went along the lines of, "Since my sister defeated him, I must be able to at least get an upper hand over him," or so.

He looked at Nadia, and she averted her gaze, giving him a cold shoulder.

"…."

This girl…

After that, they left one by one, back to their respective clans.

While they were in the car, the elder driving suddenly asked him,

"What do you think about the older twin from the Celestial Paradox Clan?"